T-Mobile, Sprint Dish Details on Samsung Galaxy S4 Launch

Sprint announced today that Samsung’s flagship phone will be available on April 27 for $250 with a two-year contract. To woo new customers, the carrier is also offering a $100 instant credit to anyone who switches over to Sprint. Preorders will start on April 18.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S4 will launch at T-Mobile starting on April 24. Pricing is set at $150 down, with 24 monthly payments of $20 on the carrier’s new Simple Choice plan.

U.S. Cellular is taking preorders today for the 16 gigabyte model, which costs $200 and also comes with a free flip cover (while supplies last). But a release date has not yet been announced.

The handset is also expected to be available from Verizon, Cricket and C Spire, as well as Best Buy, Costco, Target, Walmart and a number of other retailers.

First introduced in March, the Samsung Galaxy S4 offers a five-inch full-HD touchscreen and a 13-megapixel rear camera, and runs on Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2. The handset also incorporates eye-tracking technology: A feature called Smart Stay keeps the screen on if the phone senses you are reading or watching something, while another function called Smart Pause will pause a video if you look away from the screen.

As the company has done with its Galaxy S phones in the past, Samsung is making its latest flagship model available from as many carriers and retailers as possible. In September, Samsung said sales of the Galaxy S III surpassed 20 million, and some analysts predict that the company will ship (note: Ship, not sell) 10 million Galaxy S4s in the first month on the market.

Once it does arrive on store shelves, it will be interesting to watch it do battle with another hot Android smartphone about to hit the market, the HTC One.

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